Florida

Transgender nursing student threatened with arrest for using women’s restroom

CLEARWATER, Fla. — A transgender nursing student a the Pinellas Technical Education Center in Clearwater, Fla., said she has been threatened with arrest and legal action after a fellow student complained that she uses the women’s restroom.

Alex Wilson, a certified nursing assistant who hopes to become a licensed practical nurse, has been transitioning from male to female, and has undergone four years of hormone therapy.

Until Monday, Wilson said she has been using the women’s facilities, but that came to an end after another student complained to the school’s administration, reported WFLA-TV.

Wilson said she was pulled out of class and told her alternatives: “If I continue to use the female restroom that I would have charges pressed against me. And that because of that I would be removed from the program as a nurse.”

Instead of using the restroom near her classroom, Wilson said she was instructed to use one in the administration building.

Watch a report from WFLA-TV (which first refers to Wilson as “a young man,” but later uses female pronouns):

Florida state law does not address discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, although several counties have passed local ordinances to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination.

Pinellas County does have an anti-discrimination ordinance that covers sexual orientation, but not gender identity.